In Lebus, East-Brandenburg, 4822 Soviet soldier who lost their lives in WWII are buried. Joachim Gauch, president of the FRG, laid a wreath at the Russian war memorial in Lebus and again called for peace and reconciliation. WWII, initiated by Germany, caused unimaginable suffering for millions of people all over the world, he said. Again, he reminded that Germans would not have been able to free themselves of the Nazi dictatorship, if they had not been defeated by the Allied forces.

Dr Kristian Ireland's grandparents were among the many Soviet citizens who found themselves in German refugee camps at the end of the war. His grandmother had been taken from her family as a young girl and forced to go into service in German families. His grandfather was a POW - both should have returned to the Soviet Union after the war. But they had heard, what fate awaited Russians who had spend time in the West. They were sent to Siberia to be re-educated in the communist doctrine. Friends smuggled them into a refugee camp, telling the authorities they were Polish. Eventually, they were able to migrate to Australia.Kristian will present the fascinating story of his grandparents at a talk at the Tabulam and Templer Homes for the Aged in Bayswater in July.Images: Russische Kreigsgräberstätte in Lebus